The Fair Fares proposal has been long-sought by transit and criminal justice advocates, who say it would help bridge the gap between low income New Yorkers and those who can afford monthly MetroCards at a cost of more than $100. | AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File

Speaker Corey Johnson is floating a proposal to defund some Council spending initiatives as a way to pay for the Fair Fares plan, the Council’s biggest budget request — and one that Mayor Bill de Blasio has said he has no intention of funding.

So far, the fight over the plan to provide discounted MetroCards to low-income New Yorkers has been between Johnson and de Blasio. But by going after the Council’s initiatives funding, Johnson risks sparking a fight with his own members — or between his members — as they battle to preserve their priorities.

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Several members of the City Council confirmed to POLITICO that Johnson has floated the idea in recent days. It first came up during the Progressive Caucus retreat earlier this month, when members raised questions about how the Council would pay for proposed initiatives.

“He said we could potentially wipe the slate clean and start over, that we could decide what to fund,” said one Council member, who would share details about the meeting on conditional of anonymity. “The idea is that the Council would fund half [of Fair Fares] and the mayor would would fund the other half. But we would have to cut several initiatives to make that happen.”

The Fair Fares proposal has been long-sought by transit and criminal justice advocates, who say it would help bridge the gap between low income New Yorkers, who struggle to afford train rides and often get caught up in the criminal justice system as a result of fare evasion, and New Yorkers who can afford monthly MetroCards at a cost of more than $100.

By the Council’s estimates, the program could save New Yorkers living below the federal poverty level — and enrolled veterans — up to $700 every year at a cost of $212 million dollars to the city. The Council estimates that up to 800,000 individuals would qualify for the benefit.

De Blasio unveiled his $89.06 billion executive budget proposal last month, expanding spending by $390 million from his original plan in January and growing the budget by nearly 5 percent since the last adopted plan — all while leaving out much of the City Council’s spending wish list.

Supporters of Fair Fares say the city has enough money to fund the program, citing an additional $1 billion in revenue in this year’s proposed budget.

The plan is also considered one of Johnson’s top budget priorities, along with a proposal to give property tax rebates to certain home owners in the city and increasing the city’s savings.

In a statement to POLITICO, Johnson acknowledged initiative cuts are currently on the table.

"Right now we are figuring out our priorities. This is the start of a new term with a lot of new members,” Johnson said. “The administration can't have everything they want and neither can the Council. It's a good time to look at initiatives."

Members of the Council said Johnson views the Fair Fares proposal as “big ticket item” that if funded could help him boost his standing across the city. The Fair Fares proposal has wide support on the Council, but the possibility of cutting council initiatives has created concern among some members who could lose millions of dollars in funding for their districts.

POLITICO interviewed several members of the Council, all of whom declined to speak on the record citing the early budget negotiations and a desire not to antagonize the speaker.

“He will get more mileage from securing a big ticket citywide thing like fair fares,” another member told POLITICO.

Council initiatives help fund Council members’ district-specific priorities, often adding money to programs they feel the administration has underfunded. The money can go to city agencies or nonprofits to do the work and it can be citywide in nature or spread out locally in each district.

Last year the Council spent $318.9 million on initiatives, including a $20 million allocation for professional development for teachers, $15 million for merit-based college scholarships, $10 million for child care slots and $10 million for legal defense for detained immigrants facing deportation. The Council also earmarked $8 million for youth employment and $4 million for food pantries.

Additionally, the Council budgeted $61.5 million for discretionary funding, which allows members to decide how to allocate money to nonprofits in their districts.

Some Council members also said Johnson has suggested making cuts to initiatives that help pay for services administered by city agencies, arguing the Council shouldn’t be spending its money helping to pay for services the city should technically be funding as part of each agency’s operating budget.

“[Johnson] does want to be responsible when we talk about savings and the money that the council spends,” another member privy to the conversations told POLITICO. “That may hit some of the initiatives that we care about. There might be a cut the ones that have been around for a very long time and no longer have a lot of support. We will look at the bigger pots of money and figure out if they are serving the purpose.”

An example of a possible cut would be to eliminate a $7 million allocation for a program that currently provides dollars to the city’s Department of Sanitation to pay for additional garbage pick ups along commercial strips in certain council districts.

"I would be very disappointed if that sanitation funding ends up not being part of this budget," Council Member Mark Gjonaj told POLITICO in an interview. "It’s a city service that all districts with commercial areas benefit from, $7 million out of $89 billion it would be foolish to eliminate."

Despite the funding cut threat, members acknowledged Johnson’s proposal is not yet set in stone and said the Council would be hard pressed to make enough cuts to come up with the funding.

“If he pulls this off it will be an incredible feat of him imposing his will on the council,” a member said.